


if this is the end

by bluetempest



Category: Mother of the Year (Visual Novel), Open Heart (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Angst, F/M, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Protective Siblings, Romantic Angst, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 02:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23004190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetempest/pseuds/bluetempest
Summary: Doctor Casey Day talks to her twin sister Rory about her broken heart, and finally lets her feelings out in the open.
Relationships: Ethan Ramsey/Main Character (Open Heart), Ethan Ramsey/Original Female Character(s), Thomas Mendez/Main Character (Mother of the Year)
Kudos: 15





	if this is the end

**Author's Note:**

> After Mother of the Year released, I always imagined the MC was Open Heart’s MC twin sister. This is how this little moment came to be written; I always pictured them to be really close, and it only made sense they would talk about MC & Ethan. It is set during Open Heart: Second Year’s first chapter before the first day and after all the events in Mother of The Year.

When she made it to their small flat after the evening at the bar, Casey saw that Jackie, Sienna & Elijah were all in their respective rooms, probably asleep. She felt a weight lift off her shoulders; part of her was relieved no one would see her as she was right now. Casey knew everything she was feeling was written on her face, and she hated every second of it. In any other circumstances, maybe she could have pretended to be fine but Sienna and Elijah were the only two people who had any idea what had happened between her and Ethan, and she wasn’t sure she could hide the truth from them. And quite frankly, Sienna was extremely perceptive and the probability of her having fallen for Casey’s _“I need to speak to him before tomorrow for work”_ was non-existent. 

She quickly took her shower and settled in her bed, hugging a pillow not long after. The feeling of something crushing her heart was not leaving, and she imagined it wouldn’t. Not for a very long time. She blinked, again and again. Through the tears she was trying to hold in, she looked at her alarm clock: it was really late. Her sister was most certainly asleep. 

Casey had talked to her twin sister throughout her year as an intern. They were close. She had mentioned everything that happened, except this. It was the one thing she had kept to herself, her secret. But at this moment, Casey felt like she was overflowing; she needed to let it out.

She picked up her phone, hesitating. Was Rory alone? Would she wake up her boyfriend too? Would her sister be annoyed with her for waking her up? There was a thousand reasons she should not call her. A thousand excuses to bottle things up even further. But after a minute, she pressed the call button.

Rory picked up on the first ring. _Of course she did._

“Casey? Are you okay?” 

“I … I don’t think so?” A few tears escaped her eyes with her admission.

“Alright, give me a second.” 

She could hear her sister moving. She heard her quietly say _“It’s Casey, I got this Thomas, go back to sleep.”_ and then a door close. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?” 

“I’m so sorry I woke you up, and Thomas too. I shouldn’t have called, I-”

“Stop right now. You were right to call me. Now talk to me, please.” 

And Casey broke down. She could not stop the tears any longer. Sobbing, she tried to find the words to explain what it was she was feeling. 

“Last year, I … I didn’t tell you everything that happened.” She took a deep breath. “I talked to you about Dr Ramsey, remember?”

“Of course I remember. Now, did he hurt you? Do I need to come to Edenbrook to fight him? Do I need to ask Thomas to sue him for everything he’s worth?”

Casey chuckled between her tears. Typical reaction from her overprotective twin sister. 

“No, no it’s okay I promise.”

“Clearly it’s not okay Casey.” 

“You can’t fight someone for doing the right thing Rory.” Even when it breaks you. 

Her sister said nothing. She was waiting for Casey to continue but Casey had not spoken these words aloud. Ever. It took more time than she thought to finally say it.

“We … We had something.” 

And she told her everything. Everything that happened, every feeling, every passing glance, everytime they tried to ignore their feelings, to not act on it. She told her about Ethan and his worrying over being too attached, too involved that he could not help her be the best doctor she could be, not in the way she deserved. She told her about that last night, before she was given the diagnostics fellowship. How she knew it was an end, but how she desperately wanted to deny it. Everything came pouring out of her and she couldn’t stop. By the end, she felt drained. The tears had stopped some minutes before, and emptiness had replaced them.

She grabbed another tissue while Rory was processing everything. 

“I’m so sorry for not telling you.” Casey added.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. You are allowed your secrets. And I love you, you know that right?”

Casey smiled. “Just as much as I love you.” 

Was the pain gone? No. She sincerely doubted anything would ever make it go away. But it felt good to finally talk to her twin about this. 

“But why tonight?” Rory asked.

“He left for two months, right after I was granted the junior fellowship in the diagnostics team, to fight an outbreak in the Amazon. We had no contact, nothing.” And it had been difficult. The sudden lack of contact, not being able to talk to him had weighted on her, even if she had kept moving. It was at the back of her mind more than she would care to admit. “Then tonight, we went to celebrate the end of our intern year and the start of residency at our usual place.”

“And he was there.” Rory guessed.

“It fucking hurt. I know why he was so distant. And I understand but it was like no time had passed at all. We managed to talk later in the evening, just the two of us.“ 

The tears threatened to flood her again. It was as if she had gotten her heart broken two months ago, and again tonight. She would get her heart crushed every day, over and over again, from now on.

“He told me why he didn’t keep in touch. We needed to leave it in the past so we could work together. He’s my boss, and he wants to help me achieve my goals. And we can’t do that and have what we … What we had.” She took a break. She curled up on her bed, her knees close her chest. “And I respect that, and I understand and it makes so much sense but … I hate it so much. I know he hates it too, he all but told me. I miss him.”

“I know you do. Sometimes, even if it makes sense, it doesn’t stop the hurt.”

“How do I make it stop?” Every word shook with the sobs that returned. 

“I don’t know. You need to give yourself time to process it. You didn’t have a clean break before, and now you finally cleared things up.”

“I hate it Rory.”

“If I had a magical way to fix it, I would. Everyday I wish I had a secret special power to fix whatever bothered or hurt Alexis, and if I had figured out, I would use it for you too. But I can’t. You need to settle into your new year and find a new balance.” 

Casey was quiet for a moment. She wanted to scream. It all made sense. What Ethan said. What Rory was explaining to her. And yet, she always circled back to the same thing: she did not want to give up what Ethan and her had. She wanted to stop missing him but every time she saw him, she felt the hollowness of his absence. She could not rationalize this. When she tried, it brought her back to that feeling. 

“Casey?” 

“I love him.” The word was out before she could even acknowledge its presence in her mind. “Dammit, dammit…” 

“You’re okay. You can get through this. I’m here. You have your friends and you’re starting a new adventure in your career. It’s not perfect right now, but you can do this.” 

They stayed in silence for a few minutes while Casey steadied her breathing. This is not how she thought this conversation would go. While the feeling had been a part of her for a while now, she had never looked too close at it. Admitting this truth out loud shook her, but at least now she knew where she stood. That was the first step. Like her sister had told her, she needed to find a new balance. 

The equivalent of half a box of tissues was on the ground of her bedroom, sad witnesses to her breakdown. She finally uncurled from around her pillow and sat at the edge of her bed. With a deep, shaky breath, she said:

“I’ll try my best.” 

“I believe in you, alright?”

“I know. Thank you.” 

“Me and Alexis will try to come visit as soon as possible. She’s been asking for you for weeks now.”

That got a small, genuine laugh out of Casey. She loved her niece. 

“I miss her too. Give her a hug for me in the morning, if she wants one, okay?”

“I will. Try to get some sleep, and call me if you need anything?”

“I promise.”

After saying goodnight to each other, Casey dropped her phone on her tiny nightstand. Almost automatically, she grabbed her bin and gathered all the tissues around her room in it. That was step two. Step three brought her quietly to her bathroom to wash her face and step four was when she found herself under her covers, lights off. 

Nothing would magically be fixed overnight. She would have to face her feelings every single day, but she would also have other things to focus on, things she was excited for. And day after day, she would try her best. 

Casey kept that certainty close to her heart, and fell asleep. 


End file.
